Hyde Group pilots workplace massages

EXCLUSIVE: Housing association The Hyde Group (Hyde) is to pilot massages in the workplace across all its main offices as it puts an increased focus on employees’ health and wellbeing.

The programme, provided by Massage in the Workplace, will take place throughout July, although it will continue to run until December in offices where it receives good take up.

Hyde will offer staff head, neck and shoulder massage sessions, which can be booked through its wellbeing champions.

It will be implemented following staff feedback at Hyde’s annual employee conference, which was held in April (pictured). The organisation asked staff to select from a number of choices for wellbeing activities to implement, of which massages was the most popular.

The programme will sit as part of the organisation’s Beingwell programme, which it has developed this year to cover all aspects of workplace wellbeing from physical and mental health to employee financial wellbeing.

This has four pillars to its design: Livewell, Spendwell, Workwell and Copewell. The workplace massages are a part of a year-long campaign put together by the organisation’s wellbeing champions to drive the engagement and wellbeing of employees.

Sarah Bissell, head of reward at Hyde, said: “What we have tried to do is ask staff what they want from the organisation, be it through surveys or asking at our annual conference.

“People voted in number for massages and we hope it can help relieve stress and improve their productivity.

“The increase in wellbeing, especially with the different quarterly themes, helps keep employees engaged. Introducing workplace massages is the next stage to that and it has really been pushed with the help of our wellbeing champions, [who] have really driven that engagement.

“We are going in the right direction and employees can see we are taking their health and wellbeing seriously and being productive to introduce new benefits for them.”

This is a great initiative and one which can be adopted in many organisations throughout the UK. We also provide on-site Staff Chiropody in the workplace and receive very positive feedback from staff and employers alike.